


I Will Be

by AHS



Series: Songfic Series 2 (Same Old Lang Syne) [3]
Category: Actor RPF, Queer as Folk (US) RPF
Genre: M/M, Randy pov, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-21
Updated: 2008-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:54:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHS/pseuds/AHS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Randy pov.  Home from the hospital, and not alone :)  Songfic using "I Will Be" by Leona Lewis.  Part 3 of 3-part series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Be

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I made this up.

I’ve heard that when you come out of a coma, it feels to you as if only minutes have passed, instead of days or weeks or months.

I actually did some research, what seems like a lifetime ago, when _Justin_ spent two weeks in a (not shown) TV coma.

I was in a real fucking coma for six weeks. But when I came out of it, it didn’t feel like minutes. It felt like years. It felt like five years.

Waking up was kind of like waking from a very potent dream. I wasn’t confused when I opened my eyes. Gale was there, and I felt safe, and I felt love, and I was back. But sometimes, in those first weeks, I would have moments of doubting my reality. Wondering, even when he was there holding my hand, if that Christmas Eve had really happened. Him coming up to me in the grocery store, sitting in my car talking, touching… just seemed too magical. When I would think about it, what would seem most impossible to believe was that I had spent five years previous to that without him in my life. Maybe _that_ was the coma. I wanted the truth to be that we had been together all along. Shit, even for it to still be years ago and us still working on that damn show.

As long as I hadn’t really done that to us. Stolen all that time.

I don’t remember if I went towards _the light_ at any point, but I know I could have died. And nearly dying will give you a hell of a new perspective on things. My new perspective?

Not being with Gale = stupid + unnecessary + hurtful + wrong.

Which is why I was so scared when he left.

Gale stayed close by after I woke, not seeming to ever want to let me go. My mom told me he’d been even more consistently by my side while I was in the coma. So, when he told me two days later that he was going back to San Francisco, gave me a kiss and left, I wasn’t prepared for it. I already missed him as I watched him walk away. I knew I shouldn’t be surprised, though. He had a life that had nothing to do with me, and it was high time he got back to it.

I had been determined to get myself released from the hospital before Valentine’s Day, but now it didn’t seem to matter. When the doctors said they wanted to keep me for observation ( _what the fuck else were you doing for six weeks? shouldn’t you be done observing me by now?_ ) a few more days, I didn’t fight it. Though I reserved my right to grumble a little.

I didn’t hear from him at all for three days, and then he called my room. Said he was “working on something,” which I figured meant… I don’t know… pictures for his next book? I came back with, “Great,” or some such generic response. When he asked when I was getting out, I told him I wasn’t sure. He got all freaked, asking if something was wrong. I told him I thought it was pretty standard post-coma procedure, just to be safe, but the next thing I knew, he’d hung up. A little later, Simon came in, telling me Gale had called him, all worried, and what was I doing to the poor man?

Waking up to find Gale and Simon practically _BFF’s_ … Okay, maybe I exaggerate slightly, but that’s something else that has thrown me. Although, it’s really rather adorable, even when they’re united against me.

Sunday morning, February 14th, I was told I was being released. All of a sudden, there was no one around to take me. Simon and Adam were away together for the weekend. My parents had finally gone home. I couldn’t get a hold of Marci. I was about to call a cab… when Gale showed up, grinning. He kissed me, plunked me (gently) into a wheelchair, dropped a bouquet of red and yellow roses in my lap, and started pushing me towards freedom.

That nurse waved goodbye, calling me “kid,” which I never decided whether to be insulted or flattered by. Especially since I was pretty sure she was my age. I smiled oddly at her, and then I was out of there.

It’s funny, but I don’t know where I thought he was taking me. I guess I didn’t let myself think for once, and when we got there, my feelings were mixed. Of course, the bigger part of me was just _so_ happy to be home. I love my apartment, and I wanted to see my cats ( _I didn’t mean to abandon you, my babies!_ ), and touch all my things, and be able to sleep in my own bed again. But our arrival at Simon’s and my place seemed to indicate Gale was just dropping me off… before going away again.

Then we got inside. The dining table was set with candles, which he lit as I stood gaping, and plates of what turned out to be French toast (was still breakfast time, after all). The pictures of us that had decorated my hospital room when I woke up were now all over my living room, many of them in frames. There was a pile of twenty or more DVD’s on the sofa and a pile of luggage on the floor in front of it.

I circled slowly, looking at everything. “How did…?”

“Marci,” he said, at which point I noticed a note from her on the coffee table…

 __

 _He’s the best present I could (help to) give you. Love you, M._

I swallowed hard and turned to the tall stack of movies, gesturing. “What’s…?”

“All the movies that have come out in the last five years that I’ve most wanted to watch with you… either to love or make fun of with you.”

“Oh…” I casually grabbed hold of the wall, in case my knees gave way. I nodded my head at the luggage. “And…?”

“Mine. Enough to stay here for at least a week or so.”

“Stay… _here_? Gale, Simon will be back tomorrow. I know you two are friends now, but wouldn’t that still be crowded and… weird?”

“Actually, Simon and Adam decided to extend their getaway. This is _our_ place for the next week.”

I had to sit down. I sat in one of the dining chairs and started knocking back a wine glass filled with orange juice.

“If that’s okay with you,” he added nervously. His lips disappeared, and for a second he looked even younger than me. I reached across the table and grabbed his hand.

“More than okay. I mean, if you’re not sick of me yet.”

A forkful of French toast was shoved between my lips. He smiled and said, “Shut the fuck up.” I rolled my eyes and chewed, happily.

We ate in comfortable silence for a while. Then I made the mistake of saying aloud what I’d been saying in my head about getting back to work. Gale spazzed out.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Rand, you cannot be serious.”

“Why not?”

“You’re barely an hour out of the hospital! You were there for almost two fucking months!”

“I know! That just makes my point. I’ve been away from the theatre too long. I miss it.”

Gale sighed. “I know you do, but… Rand! Look at you. You’re about to fall asleep on your plate.”

It was true. I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open. You’d figure after six weeks of doing nothing but, I wouldn’t need to sleep again! Quite frustratingly, it was proving to be the opposite. My body was so used to sleeping, that was now its first instinct.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said. “Why don’t you lie down? This is the most activity you’ve had in a while. C’mon.”

I felt stupid, but I shuffled slowly to my bedroom, Gale close behind me. I think he started to pull the covers down for me, maybe even to take my shoes off for me, but he stopped himself because he knows I don’t like feeling like an invalid.

I still thought he might climb in with me, but he didn’t. He just bent down and kissed my eyebrow. Not sure why that was so sweet and so hot, but it was. Aggie and Ella jumped up and joined me instead… purring ferociously in celebration of my return… which was helpfully distracting.

“What are you going to do while I’m resting?”

“Oh, hang out. Make sure that girl bought the right stuff.”

I found out later he’d given Marci a shopping list comprised of all the food I’d bought (and never made it home with) on Christmas Eve. At the time, I was too drowsy to wonder what he meant. I only had enough strength to say one thing.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Gale.”

I was asleep by the time he said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Rand,” but I heard him, anyway. I’d gotten good at that.

 __

 _***_

I woke up about five and a half hours later ( _shit! hell of a nap)_ to find him in the living room watching _An Affair To Remember_ … I kid you not.

“Gale?”

He saw me and his face lit up. “Hey!”

He patted the sofa cushion to the right of him. I shook my head and sat to his left. I could see him mentally kicking himself.

“Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s fine.”

I know how lucky I was to come away from the car accident and the coma, not only alive, but with no serious long-term effects. The only slight one was a close to twenty percent hearing loss in my left ear. It’s from when the airbag hit me. But it’s not enough to really pose a problem. At least, not much of one. I just try to aim my right ear at people.

I slid my arm around Gale’s shoulders and he relaxed.

“I thought you were gonna miss it.”

“You could always pause it,” I shrugged.

“Not the movie. I thought you might sleep past sunset. You know… Valentine’s Day… Empire State Building?”

Right. The lovers were supposed to meet there at sunset. And I had said…

Why did I have a feeling my tragic accident made me Deborah Kerr in this scenario?

I looked around and noticed the coffee table had acquired a new photo. A framed 8x12” of the Empire State Building I knew Gale had taken himself. He followed my eye.

“Thought that could do for us. I didn’t know if you’d feel like going. It’s crazy crowded with tourists today, anyway. And yahoos getting married at the top.”

“Ooh, let’s go see!”

“Really?”

“No,” I laughed. He’d looked scared for a second.

“Funny, Rand.” Gale jabbed tickling fingers under my arm, and I twisted and fought for breath.

“You’re the one who brought it up!”

“Fair enough.” He smiled, holding his hands up in surrender. After a beat… “I have something to tell you. Or… ask you.”

“Well, which is it?” Curious. I mean, I knew he wasn’t going to ask me to marry him at 1,000 feet… _didn’t I?_

“See all my luggage over there?”

I looked to where he’d moved it out of the way. “Yeah?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little much for a week?”

There were three large suitcases and one duffle bag, nearly bursting at the seams. Come to think of it, I had always known Gale to pack light. “Yeah… So?”

“So… I’m not staying for a week. I’m staying… forever.”

… _Huh?_ “What are you talking about, Gale?”

“Put it this way… I’m staying for a week, whether you like it or not. After that, if you want, I’ll go. But if you want, I’ll stay.”

YES, stay… my heart thumped… But, but, but… “I’m confused.”

“About?”

To start with? “You want to move in with me and Simon?” _Come and knock on our door…_

“No. I’ve talked to Simon about this. He’s willing to sign this place over to us. He knows how much you love it, and I think he and Adam are wanting to live together.”

Wait a minute… “You and Simon have talked about this. Planning my life. But neither one of you talked to me?”

“Nobody’s planning your life, Rand. I’m trying to plan mine. Trying to make the fuck sure it has you in it.”

That quieted me. His eyes were filled with all our lost time.

“I kind of thought you wanted that, too.”

“I do.” I wrapped both my arms around his waist and molded myself to his side. “It’s just a lot to take in… You really want to live with me?”

“Yes. And, no pressure, but I’ve already packed up my house and put it on the market.”

“ _What_??”

“That’s what I was working on in Frisco. The rest of my shit is in storage, waiting to be shipped out here… on your word.”

He grinned, looking pleased with himself, and I didn’t know whether to hit him or…

I kissed him. I opened his mouth with mine and let my tongue slip beneath his, languidly sweep over the softness of the top, then tickle the back of his throat. It was the first time I’d let myself fully luxuriate in feeling him and tasting him since we’d said goodbye all those years ago. The kisses we’d shared since finding each other again had been a handful of sweet, quick teases… loving but not deep, not quite passionate. But this _fucking_ was.

I threw a leg over his lap so I could straddle him, and I dug my hands into his hair, messing it up. His hands touched down low on my back, resting just above my ass. I wiggled, hoping they’d fall lower, and rubbed my crotch into his. Just when I felt him getting hard against me…

“Fuck,” he growled, clearing his throat and gently pushing me off him. “Let’s, uh… watch a movie.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, not this one.” He grabbed the remote and stopped Cary Grant. “But we’ve got a bunch of them to see. Better get started.”

I was incredulous and insulted, and I wanted to scream in frustration.

“How you feeling, Rand? You tired?”

“I feel horny,” I told him. “And no, I’m not tired! I just got up!”

“Do you have a headache?”

“No, you’re the one making _‘not tonight, honey’_ excuses.”

I fumed, but after a minute, I started to cool off and understand. I had been having headaches a lot, which I guess is pretty common after your head slams into your dashboard at too many miles per hour. I realized that Gale had spent six weeks watching me lying in a hospital, worrying about me, and now he was just being careful with me. I had to make him see that I wasn’t some fragile thing that would break if he touched.

I couldn’t push him too much, though. I knew that.

“I still work, you know? My dick still works.” First time I could walk to the bathroom unassisted, I jerked off, just to test. “My mouth still works, obviously.” Since I couldn’t seem to shut up. “My ass might be a little out of practice, but…”

“Rand,” he warned me to stop talking about my body parts. “You need more time. You need rest.”

I was all ready to contradict him, when he added…

“Maybe I do, too.”

I looked more closely at him and finally let myself see how tired he looked. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally drained. I imagined him, at the hospital every day, waiting for me to wake up and me taking my sweet time. Suddenly, I felt almost selfish.

I patted his knee and stood up. “Pick a movie, then.” I walked into the kitchen, popped a bag of popcorn while he rustled through the DVD’s, and got out some carrots for myself. When he hit play on _Little Miss Sunshine_ , I came back and settled in next to him… close, but not on top of him. I started nibbling on a carrot and he looked at me suspiciously.

“What? I’ll be good, I promise. But I have to do _something_ with this oral fixation of mine.”

Okay, maybe licking it was unnecessary.

 __

 _***_

I fell asleep somewhere into movie number three. Gale thought I looked comfortable on the sofa, so he spread a blanket over me. Did he then go and sleep on my bed, or even Simon’s? No. He put a pillow on the floor and slept right there, holding my hand.

How dare he be so lovable and sweet and desirable and not fuck me?

The next night, he was still playing hard to get. I insisted he at least _sleep_ in my bed with me, but in the middle of the night he escaped, and this time he crashed on the sofa.

He was definitely sexually frustrated. I’m sure he was taking care of himself in the shower, even if he made sure I never heard him. I did notice him going out to smoke more, although it still wasn’t as much as he used to. I’d stopped completely… I guess six weeks without nicotine made my body not need it anymore… and I think he cut down for my sake, so I wouldn’t start back.

Two days later, I caught him online, Google searching “sex after coma.” That’s when I decided enough was enough.

“So what did you find?”

He had the cutest little embarrassed frown on his face. “Not much.”

“Maybe that’s because nothing needs to be written about how to properly fuck a _formerly_ comatose person. Maybe when they say they’re ready, they really are.” I started massaging his shoulders.

“There was this one article… about this woman… nice, married, only ever been with her husband… who came out of her coma a total nympho. She jumps old men on park benches, teenagers on their way home from school…”

“Wait, I know that story. Marci thought it would make a great play. But, if I’m not mistaken, that woman suffered a major brain injury that fundamentally altered her personality. I didn’t.” He looked much too thoughtful. “Is that why you won’t give it up? You think I’m just a big slut now?” I was kidding, but he didn’t crack a smile.

“You could have,” he whispered.

I didn’t think he meant, _“could have been a big slut,”_ so I just said, “What?”

“You could have not been you anymore.”

 _There's nothing I could say to you  
Nothing I could ever do to make you see  
What you mean to me  
_

I took him by the hand… led him away from the computer, into the bedroom… and sat beside him on the bed.

“You could have died,” he went on. “Or you could have lived, but not been you. Or you could have been you, but not remembered me.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot,” I observed sadly, touching his cheek.

“I had a lot of time.”

 _All the pain, the tears I cried  
Still you never said goodbye, and now I know  
How far you'd go_

“I’m sorry.” I knew it wasn’t my fault, but in a way I was apologizing for not waking up sooner. For everything he went through, waiting for me, willing me. “You know, I think I could hear you.”

His eyes didn’t quite believe. “When?”

“I don’t know. When you were talking to me. Maybe the whole time. I woke up with a sense of the sound of your voice, a sense you’d been with me. I don’t remember a _lot_ of specifics, but…”

“What?”

“You used the B and J words.” My mouth dropped open in faux shock and disapproval.

A smile flickered. “Yeah, well, there were some fucking annoying parallels.”

“And something about Blow Buddies?” I arched my eyebrow, more playful than accusing. From what I’d heard of the gay club, it delivered exactly what the name suggested, and more.

The color drained from his face. “There’s no way you remember that!”

I had to laugh then. “No. By your reaction, I’m obviously making it up.”

“Hmph… Anything else?”

At least he looked less sad… for the moment. “You were mad at me for not telling you Simon and I were broken up.”

 _I know I let you down  
But it's not like that now  
This time I'll never let you go_

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because… we may have both said goodbye, but it was my stupid idea. Seeing you again… I knew I didn’t have the right to expect my availability to mean anything to you.”

“It did.”

“…I remember one more thing.”

“Do I want to know?”

I hope so. “You said you love me… I don’t know if I was awake by then, or if it’s what made me wake up, but I know I heard it… Gale?”

His head was down and I couldn’t see his face. I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t. I scooted closer, touched his leg, lifted his chin. My heart seized at the tear track shining on his cheek, and more so at his voice.

“If that’s what brought you back, Rand, I am so fucking sorry I didn’t say it sooner.”

 _I will be, all that you want  
And gather myself together  
‘Cause you keep me from falling apart_

I climbed onto his lap, making quiet shushing sounds and stroking his cheekbones with my thumbs. I wrapped my legs around his hips, not to push my dick into his this time, but just to hold him as close to me as I could. I rubbed his back with one hand and held his head to mine, fingers dragging through his hair, with the other.

Our noses nudged softly, just to touch. His hot breaths bathed my lips dry and I needed to moisten them with his tongue. I let my mouth hover just in front of his until I felt the gentle licks. Then I closed my eyes to the sensation and blindly sought my way inside. He was sucking my bottom lip between his and dancing fingers under my shirt.

I mumbled words into the kiss, and he stopped and pulled back just enough to ask me to repeat them.

“I said I want you to stay, Gale. Stay forever, like you said.”

 _All my life, I'll be with you forever  
To get you through the day  
And make everything OK_

“I- I know it’s not fair to you.” I knew that, but I still wanted it. “You’re changing your whole life for me.”

“It fucking needed changing,” he declared, looking right in my eyes. “Because you changed my life a long time ago. It fell to hell without you, and now I want you to change it back. Okay?” He was holding my hands now and squeezing, trying to communicate how much he meant it.

I squeezed back and smiled against his chin. “Okay.”

“But… you’ve got a few more days left to decide. Are you sure…?”

“No… more… wasting… time.” I undid a button on his shirt for every word.  


 _I thought that I had everything  
I didn't know what life could bring  
But now I see, honestly_

I’d been so desperate to get his clothes off for days, to feel his body again, I hadn’t really been thinking about my body. As soon as I got his shirt off, he had my shirt off, and somehow my pants, and his pants, too. Then he was tumbling down on top of me on the bed, his skin so smooth and hot against mine. When he started kissing and nipping a path down my chest, playing over my ribcage, I squirmed… and he could tell it wasn’t _entirely_ in the good way.

“Rand, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing… really. I just probably should have taken advantage of those days you _weren’t_ getting me naked and worked out or something.”

I’d never been a muscular type, by any stretch, but I’d been pretty proud of my body. Six weeks of total physical inactivity had lost me the tone I used to have. I didn’t weigh much to start with, and now I weighed even less. I could feel the way my ribs were kind of sticking out when he licked along the lines of them, and it didn’t make me feel the sexiest. I was even paler than ever, which shouldn’t have been possible.

He fondled my stomach and raised up, sitting between my legs. Then he poked his own ribs. “I lost about ten pounds myself. Hospital cafeteria food. _Shit_.”

“Yeah, but you look fine.”

“Excuse me? Are you insinuating that I was _fat_ before??”

My laugh was swallowed by another intoxicating kiss.

 _You're the one thing I got right  
The only one I let inside  
Now I can breathe, ‘cause you're here with me_

I wriggled out of my briefs, and this time pushed him down to his back. I pulled his underwear down and off, revealing his cock, and I’d missed it so much, I fucking almost cried. I spread myself out, over top of him, letting our dicks bump and slide and get even harder. Gale’s hands ran up and down my arms, warming my shivers and causing more.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, then added conspiratorially… “You know how many of my orgasms you were responsible for in the last five years? And the five years before that? All of them. All the good ones, anyway.”

Then my head was between his thighs, and his was thrown back, calling my name. I needed the taste of Gale’s cock in my mouth at that moment more than air or water. My every nerve and taste bud memorized his every detail once more. Weight and texture and flavor. Every curve, vein, crevice. I sucked hard and swirled my tongue around and brushed the tip against the flat side of my front teeth. I cradled his balls with my fingers and pushed them over my stubbled chin until his body jerked and flooded my mouth.

 _And if I let you down  
I'll turn it all around  
‘Cause I would never let you go_

I crawled up his golden, sweaty skin to find him panting and smiling.

“Told you my mouth worked,” I couldn’t resist saying.

“Fucking understatement.” He curled an arm around my head, almost like for a headlock, but just pulled me to him for another kiss. I could still feel him coating my tongue, even as we shared his taste, and I loved it.

“I guess I know for sure this isn’t a dream. I never get your cum in my dreams.”

“Yeah? What happens to it?”

I tilted my head at him. “It never _comes_. Ironically, I wake up too soon.”

“Well, this is real. And you woke up just in time.”

“We both did.”

 _I will be, all that you want  
And gather myself together  
‘Cause you keep me from falling apart_

“ _Gale_ ,” I whispered at him, like it was a big secret.

“ _What?_ ” he whispered back, into my (right) ear.

“ _Fuck me_.”

I reached over into the bedside table drawer for a condom and lube. I’d just gotten them when he tugged on my hair… longer now… and rolled me underneath him.

“Randy’s choice,” he said, voice indicating that he would have happily bottomed for me. He was always incredibly versatile, and willing. But I knew he wanted to fuck me.

“Randy’s just coming off a coma. He’s not so sure he has the stamina to fuck his Gale properly.”

“Considering how long Gale’s been waiting to get inside Randy again, Gale’s not sure he does either. Even after that un-fucking-believable blow job… _Ahh, shit_.”

Wow, Gale was doing all right for forty. I think he started getting hard again as soon as I said, “Fuck me.” I put the condom on him and slathered his dick with lube, then lifted my hips as much as I could from beneath him, wanting him to fill me.

 _All my life, I'll be with you forever  
To get you through the day  
And make everything OK  
_  
Then his thumbs were spreading me, using more lube. Then he was pushing at my hole… a little, little more, _ohhh MORE_ … Pushing past my body’s resistance. Pushing until my body was not only taking him but begging him never to leave. Oh my God… I always knew I wanted him, missed him, but I think I must have made myself forget just how _good_ he felt.

I raised my legs so he could go deeper. One kind of collapsed over his shoulder, and the other, he held by the ankle, thumb caressing the arch of my foot. As he was pounding a gentle rhythm into me, my eyes glazed, my head lolling back and forth, the thought popped into my head of how sexy his feet are, and how I always regretted that I never sucked his toes.

Pretty odd, random thought, and never something I was into, but I wanted to with Gale.

And I realized I would have the chance. Lots of chances.

Because he was staying.

 _‘Cause without you I can’t breathe  
I'm not gonna ever, ever let you leave  
You're all I've got, you're all I want_

Oh fuck. That thought almost made me come right then.

Gale saw me struggling, biting my lip, and he stopped… which made me whimper. Then he pulled out… which almost made me _cry_.

“You’ve been on your back much too much lately,” he breathed, with a knowing smile. “Hands and knees, c’mon.”

The break calmed my body a little, and I moved slowly into the new position. He palmed my ass cheeks lovingly and dropped kisses along my spine. I arched my back and pushed up into his hands.

“Good news,” he said. “You didn’t lose any weight in your ass.”

“Shut up and fuck me.”

 _And without you I don't know what I'd do  
I can never, ever live a day without you_

He entered a lot faster this time, and he was thrusting harder, and I just held on… to the sheets, the position, and my sanity, because I felt so good, I thought I would go crazy. Then he grabbed my cock and started pumping it, and I knew for sure.

“Gale…”

He moaned, possibly in response, still stroking my cock… my _prostate_ …

“Gale…”

I didn’t really have something to say, other than his name. I just needed to say it. I was just really, really aware of my best friend being back in my life and fucking me.

He found one of my hands… the one that _hadn’t_ joined him in jerking me off… with his, laced our fingers together, and brought them to cover my heart, which was beating triple time to his every thrust. He was all wrapped around me now, and inside me, and he smelled even better than he used to…

 _Here with me, do you see  
You're all I need  
_  
“Don’t ever leave me again, Rand,” I heard him sputter into my shoulder, lightly chewing on it. “Promise.”

His hand stopped moving on my dick, and my hand followed suit, loyal to his.

Nobody can make promises not to get hurt, not to die. But I could promise not to willingly walk away from him ever again. I know he wanted both. So did I.

“I- promise.”

And I don’t know what he did in that second that made everything finally explode and made it go white behind my eyes and made me scream so loud my voice was scratchy the next day… but sticky strings of wet and warmth covered our hands and the sheets below… and he was holding onto my hair and coming hard around my still contracting muscles… and the pull made my scalp tingle and prolonged my aftershocks.

Gale pulled out carefully, and while he dealt with the condom, my quivering body folded like a cheap card table. Happily, his did the same, right on top of me. I managed to turn over, and then we just held each other, crushed together, me leisurely licking the sweat from his neck until we fell asleep.

 _I will be, all that you want  
And gather myself together  
‘Cause you keep me from falling apart_

***

“I mean it. If a coma’s what it took to get us here… it was worth it.”

Gale was silent, not quite able to echo my sentiment (wish a coma upon me, even one that happened already)… I'd just managed to convince him he hadn't re-injured my head when he pulled my hair... But he knew what I meant. He brought my left hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles.

“I just can’t believe how close I came to having a _‘gimp hand.’_ That would so _not_ have been funny.”

I didn’t have any nerve damage from the accident, but several of the bones in my hand had broken, and it had been in a cast while I was in the coma. I'd been exercising it, and there was nothing wrong with it now, though the doctor had said it might ache occasionally.

“Cheer up,” Gale teased. “Now you’ll know whenever it’s gonna rain!”

“If you stop making fun of my hand, I might show you some of the world-renowned and highly pleasurable things I can do with it.”

“World-renowned? Oh yeah, I know you. Weren’t you on a TV show?”

“Haha. As soon as I get a good power nap in, I am going to fuck you so hard for that.”

“Then you’re right. It was all worth it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too… But you know we’ve still got eleven movies to watch.”

“Shut the fuck up. And give me your foot.”

 _All my life, I'll be with you forever  
To get you through the day  
And make everything OK  
_


End file.
